When I first thought of studying abroad, I asked my England-based friends if they would like to travel with me. Joe was the first to take me up on the offer, so I prioritized a trip with him likewise.

Thursday, 3 September: I took a train from where I was staying the last couple of days (outside of Worthing) and met up with Joe at Gatwick Airport and all our travels went smoothly. My Dublin-based friend, Rachel, was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and take us to our hostel in central Dublin. We briefly exploring the city before getting a drink and turning it in early.

Friday, 4 September: We had an early morning for our day trip to the northern coast. Our first stop was the Carrick-A-Rede rope bride: a simple suspension bridge with stunning views of the Irish coast and Scotland. After a quick lunch, we made our way to the highlight of the trip: Giant’s Causeway, a natural phenomenon of interlocking hexagonal rock formations emerging from the coast. I’ve wanted to go there for a while now and it was everything I expected and more (bar the rain and cold weather). Our final stop on the trip was an hour in Belfast. Although it was interesting, I like Dublin a lot more.

Saturday, 5 September: We participated in a free walking tour provided by our hostel (as well as several others). Highlights of the tour included Trinity College, Temple Bar (nightlife area, although it’s often confused with an actual bar in the area called Temple Bar), Christ Church and Dublin Castle. Our guide was very knowledgeable and funny. From the tour, we went to the Guinness Storehouse, where learned about the process of making Ireland’s best-known beer and got a free pint ourselves. Later that night, we met up with Rachel and her boyfriend, Craig, who took us to several bars in Temple Bar. The town was especially buzzing as there was a Gaelic football game on a few hours before.

Sunday, 6 September: We walked around town some more on our way to the National Museum of Ireland. It was a little dry, especially since we learned a lot of Irish history on our walking tour, but at least it was free. Needless to say, we were both pretty tired from the week and decided to take it easy before having one more night out before returning home the following morning.

According to Joe, Ireland is a lot like England, but that didn’t stop us both from having a great time.

My next adventure: Copenhagen, Denmark!

Photo by Michael Shannon.